[Callie2525]

First, a big thank you to the developer. I, too (same as the OP) wish to know some things about the app. How do you clear cookies, history, etc.? You say it uses the same web engine......forgive my ignorance.....does this mean when we clear things through the native browser we are also clearing SimpleBrowser? This is a vital for me to know in order to fully implement use of this app.

[symbotier]

Hi Hatax...

One more bug/feature request... I was pretty excited about the ability to change the user agent setting on the browser because I want to use the mobile version of my work's webmail (the full version is really clunky on the touch screen, but the mobile version is excellent on opera mini on my phone).

Long story short: The SimpleBrowser+ won't even render the login screen of my webmail. I think the problem is that it is an https address, and in the regular browser it kicks up a pop-up about it having an unregistered certificate or something.

Anyway, this is pretty much the only reason I bought the app, so it would be great if you could have a look at this issue...

[HybridGT]

Is it faster than the regular browser?
And does the UI look better?

[djdnz]

Is there any chance it could have ad blocking capabilities? I would GLADLY pay for any software that could remove ads from websites like adblock plus. Not only do you not have to deal with ads, but load times and performance would be improved.

[HaTaX]

Heya peoples! Just wanted to let you know that I have the new version of SimpleBrowserPlus posted up to AppWorld for approval and I should have a new version of SimpleBrowser (free version) posted for approval by today.

Both of them are getting the addition of a settings window where you can enable/disable cookies, flash, javascript as well as clear the cache and cookies. You'll also be able to set the default font size and select if you want to keep the device awake while the app is open (keeps it from going to sleep).

For now I'll do a simple icon and splash screen replacement, but I do have new graphics in the pipeline and you'll be seeing some much nicer icons and startup screens soon, but the graphics work is not going to slow me down on including options!!

The next thing I'm looking into is "tabbed-like" browsing and if adding ad blocking is feasible. I'll keep this thread updated with what I'm working on and additions in the pipeline. I saw some other bugs mentioned in the thread and I'll take a look into them, specifically SSL certs that aren't trusted are on the list.

I really appreciate all your support!! Thanks everyone!

[nimrodity]

wow,that sounds really great.
Do you know how long it takes normally for the approval?
Another thing i wanted to know,since your browser is based on the native on,is he than faster if the pb firmware gets updates which makes the native one faster,like the latest beta which improved the browser speed significantly.Does yours automatically profite from that boost,or do you have to take those changes into yours too too get the same performance,hope u understand what i mean,its a bit hard for me to explain.

[jamesharmeling]

This is good news hatax and I'm excited to see what the future looks like. Thank you very much for the effort you are putting into this and the personal update info. As a consumer it really means a lot. Bellshare could benefit from following your example.....!

[nimrodity]

just upgraded to 1.0.3 and did a bit of testing.
I am running the latest beta,which improved the native browser a lot and it got lot faster.
Since the the native ones improved so much,simple browser cant compare right now in terms of loading times and smoothness,i have much more and obvious checkerboarding with simple browser than the native one.
There is a strange kinda lag after hitting a link till the loading of a site and the user agent doesnt seem to have any effect for me.
I welcome the new options,and i hope there is one to have the top bar visible all the time so it wont hide.
Since the native one is noticable faster but only the one from the latest beta,i cant prefer the simple browser for now.
If or when it reaches the same amazing speed he up to par.
I really dont wanna complain,just mention things so that they can be fixed or improved
Hope the development will go on in the speed it is right now,seing the browser improve.
Thx to Hatax for his effort,great work for now,the simplebrowser is a good alternative for sure not only bedause its the only one but because its really good

Edit:i think i have to revise my post a bit.
The longer i use the browser,the closer its seems to be on par with the native one,maybe some minor glitches or so,bit nothing major.
Either way its great,only a bit annoying that the bar hides after hitting a bookmark.
I often check lots of my sites for a short period if time,so i need to swipe a lot to get the bar to the bookmarks,and because of that you have to change the grip position the whole time.

@Hatax
do you think it would be possible to make some floating buttons that are half transparent for back/forward and bookmarks,like some android browsers have.
This way you could navigate everything but still have practically fullscreen.
And it would be good if the spacing between the bookmarks would be a bit more narrow,so you have more bookmarks on the screen without having to scroll.

[HaTaX]

Just a quick update guys, wanted to show you a preview of what the tabbed browsing might look like. Imagebin - A place to slap up your images.

Still needs some work, but it is very functional and should give those looking for tabs something to look forward to...

Point taken on the bookmark spacing, I'll look at tightening that up a bit. And having permanent floating buttons may defeat the full screen browsing a bit, but I'll look into that, probably make it an option...

[toddmcollins]

First, I just wanted to say thanks for the browser. I just upgraded to the pro version, and it seems to work great. The ability to change the user agent was the primary reason I tried out the pro version. There are two websites I need to access while traveling that were part of my decision to purchase a playbook. Both blocked access to the playbook. Changing the user agent in simplebrowser gets me one step closer to access.

Now, I'm stopped at both websites with the message that "you need to enable pop ups". Is there a way to enable pop ups with simplebrowser? Is there something I'm missing, or is it possible to put this functionality into the next version?

Again, thanks for the work on the app! Allowing pop ups in Simplebrowser would really increase the useability of my Playbook.

[nimrodity]

i dont quite get the tabbet view,is this some sort of split screen preview off all the tabs?
and how exactly is it triggered?
i am really impressed how far this browser has come in only 3 versions.
tabbed browsing would be a great addition,great work,thx Hatax.

[nimrodity]

And having permanent floating buttons may defeat the full screen browsing a bit, but I'll look into that, probably make it an option...

the buttons dont need to be permanently floating,i meant it in a way like the maxthon browser on android,if you wanna check it,i can send you the bar.the buttons only appear in a transparent way after scolling the page and auto-hide after 2-3secs.It is positioned in the left bottom of the screen,so you are only aware of it when you want to be,i think that is a good compromise of navigating and having fullscreen

[Lhendr]

Playing with the free version and loving it. It certainly does seem faster than the native browser. Tabs would be great for sure and ad blocker would make it perfect!

[jessjames]

I have simple browser plus and some hyperlinks don't work. Great app...Thanks.

[wes45]

I have simple browser plus and some hyperlinks don't work. Great app...Thanks.

The links that don't work seem to be those that want to open in another tab.

[jessjames]

it does seem to be that way. Any fix on the horizon.

[jamesharmeling]

I will bet anybody a $5 app (gift it through App World!) that this will be fixed by Jan.1st. Any takers?

If I lose, I'll send you my pin so you can send me a gift-app request and then I'll badmouth HaTaX under my breath.

[Nonpareil]

are tabs coming?

[nimrodity]

are tabs coming?

yes he is working on it,look through the thread,there is a teaser shot of tabs

[PanaSama]

I bought the app a few days ago, i love it, it has been very useful to have a second browser open, keep up the awesome job Hatax.

[f_d]

@HaTax:

I liked it enough to buy the "+" version, but a few must-haves:

#1: Top priority UI usability thing- when you touch the address field, it should default to "select all" so that you can immediately type the next web address you want to go to.. ie, make it work the the native browser.. This is about the one good thing RIM did for the native browser (that they broke in os 2.0.0.4X and fixed in 2.0.0.6149).

#2: Implement some sort of ad blocking capability: it could start out as a simple filter and list of URLs/partial URLs that when identified, are not fetched.. I use my device on business travel all the time and sometimes have to tether (or use the bridge browser), and I don't need to be paying exhorbitant roaming data rates to watch ads for products/services I will never use.. If I'm paying for my data, I want to control what data I get.. Implement effective ad blocking, jack the price of the app to $10 if you want and I'd still buy it just for that feature.. This is how much I want ad blocking!!

#3: tabbed browsing- I like the concept you posted, but honestly, it's a #3 on the priority list for me.. If you do implement tabs, please make it work better than RIM: tab content should persist for as long as I have the tab open; there's nothing I hate more about the RIM browser than when you open a bunch of tabs, and when you switch back and forth, the content of the other tab (which I was just looking at a minute ago) is gone and the browser has to reload..

Up to this point, I've been relying on the Dolphin browser in the Android Player as it's faster and more reliable than the native browser and I can set the user agent to get the lightweight mobile sites vs. having the full desktop version forced on me all the time. Same goes for Flash content: in the native browser, if you turn off Flash, many sites stop working even though they may support non-Flash content.. By being able to change the user agent, you can load the non-Flash version of the site.. Flash support is a good thing, but as the user I should have the choice.. Listen up RIM!!

Lastly, a security question: why the heck are you asking for camera and microphone permissions for a browser? The GPS I can understand for the geolocation APIs, *and* there's a setup option for disabling this..

[HaTaX]

Camera and Mic access are needed if you want to use a web based video chat service like the AIM offering, otherwise you can't start a video or voice session. I know it does seem a little ominous that a browser app would request that, but without access they're not available to the web session either.

Update on the tabbed browsing, it's working VERY well for me now. It even uses the built in context menu in the OS to open a link in an available tab, if there's not one available, it just loads it in the current tab and you can step back using the history. You get a max of 4 tabs, but they all will stay alive while you are on another, I actually have a screenshot of Pandoa playing Christmas music with 2 youtube videos playing (720P) in two other tabs and they're all moving along at a nice clip. If you load some really resource intensive pages it will give you a warning, but never just close the tabs on its own. One thing very cool about the tabs, you can setup options that will be used in each individual tab, so if you set a particular user agent and homepage on tab #3, you will always start that tab with those settings. This should end up being a favorite feature with a lot of you I think, once you use it I think you'll really like it.

Other things have been freshened up and fixed. The clicking some links and getting nothing has been resolved, that was from javascript calling a new window and the browser not knowing how to handle it. The HTTPS with an untrusted certificate will still just hang there, that's actually an API problem that RIM is aware of and supposed to have fixed very soon. Downloads are also now working properly, although I will wait till another version to build a proper download manager for now you will get a dialog where you can name the file and it will notify you when the download is complete or failed. Not ideal, but at least for now they'll end up in the "downloads" folder and you will get notification of what's going on. Buttons have been cleaned up, formatting has been fitted to my "AR" guidelines for the UI, other graphical cleanups here and there. I added some additional functions for auto-hiding the address bar and disabling low memory warnings.

Things I'm looking into for future releases:
Download manager
History manager
Ad-Blocking capability (This one will take some time)

All of the current updates I have for SimpleBrowserPlus will be rolled into the free version as well with the exception of bookmarks and tabs. So if you're using the free version, at least you'll have all the functionality besides the tabs and bookmarks that this new version will offer.

I'll be posting up new versions to RIM today or tomrrow at some point, so you should seem them hitting App World very soon!

Ohh, and just a FYI, graphics overhaul is still on the table and being worked on, but I'm focused on getting the functionality there first. I'll have someone that is better with image aesthetics than I, and when it's completed I'll do a rollout for just the graphics update. Just wanted make sure everyone knew that wasn't forgotten about, just not a front burner item.

[jamesharmeling]

Thanks for the update!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[HaTaX]

NP! Now what's that $5 gift going to be from app world?? Kidding of course, but I'll make sure you win in that bet as long as RIM doesn't drag its feet approving it...

Just wanted to drop in to say Happy Holidays to everyone watching the thread! Been spending the last few hours with some holiday drinks and letting some family test out the new build. No crashes or weirdness as of yet so it looks like it may be ready to package up and post!

Hope you're all having a safe happy holiday!

[Wolfgan]

SB+ version rocks! For upcoming releases, is it possible for the bookmarks to also store per site settings? (ie allow flash content -ie globally disabled but enabled just for youtube-, UAS to use for that site navigation, etc)
Thanks, Wolf